Personal Papers
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7270, Egbert Hamilton Walker Papers
Egbert Hamilton Walker (1899-1991), botanist, was born in Chicago, Illinois. At age two and a half, Walker was diagnosed with polio. His illness, which had been left untreated for so many years, left him with one good arm and a slightly damaged left leg.
After receiving his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1922, he spent four years as an instructor at Canton Christian College (Lingnan University) in Canton,
China. In 1926, with the help of Professor Harley Harris Bartlett of the University of Michigan, Walker entered the University of Wisconsin. He received a M.S. degree in botany
in 1928 for his paper,
After leaving Wisconsin in 1928, Walker began work in the Division of Plants, United States National Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. Walker spent much of his time reorganizing the neglected, Old World collections and prepared reports on his progress in 1934, 1941, and 1943. Walker became the department's Assistant Curator in 1942 and Associate Curator in 1947. When the Division was reorganized into the Department of Botany in 1947, he was assigned to the Division of Phanerogams.
In 1928, Walker began work with Elmer Drew Merrill to compile a comprehensive bibliography on the literature of Chinese botany. The project was officially recognized as
a joint effort between the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Botanical Garden in 1931 when Merrill was Director of the latter institution. The resulting publication
was
During World War II, Walker and the staff at the United States National Herbarium became involved in various wartime efforts such as the preparation of survival manuals, pamphlets and articles for the army. Another wartime effort was a Servicemen's Collecting Program, proposed by Harley Harris Bartlett and developed by Walker. As the primary contact for the project, Walker received many plant specimens, primarily from servicemen stationed in Guam, the Aleutian Islands, and Okinawa, Japan.
When the Scientific Investigation of the Ryukyu Islands (SIRI) botanical program was developed by the Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council, Walker was
selected to implement the program. In 1951, he left for Okinawa to conduct field work there and the surrounding islands. Walker would make three additional research trips
to the area in 1953, 1957, and 1966. This led to the publication of
Walker retired from the Smithsonian staff in June 1959 after 30 years. He continued his research on a supplemental edition to
Beginning in 1961, Walker spent the majority of his time writing and revising the
Walker conducted botanical field work specifically in Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands, but also in New Zealand, Japan, the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, the Johnston Islands, Guam, Thailand, and Vietnam. He was vice president (1944) and president (1949-1950) of the Botanical Society of Washington and a member of the Botanical Society of Japan.
The papers of Egbert Hamilton Walker were transferred to the Smithsonian Archives from the Hunt Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1977. Subsequently, two additional
transfers of papers were gifted by Egbert Walker in 1978 and 1979. In 1995, Walker's autobiographical notes were transferred from the Department of Botany, National Museum
of Natural History. In 2002, the Smithsonian Institution Press project file for the
The Archives would like to thank Priscilla Foley for conducting the preliminary processing of the Walker Papers in the Fall of 2000 as a part of a graduate internship with the University of Maryland.
These papers document the career and life of Egbert Hamilton Walker, a Smithsonian Institution botanist whose taxonomic research centered on the
The papers of Egbert Hamilton Walker primarily pertain to the research, funding, and preparation for the
Papers relating to the research, funding, and preparation for
Walker's primary correspondents from his early years at the Smithsonian until his retirement include botanists Harley Harris Bartlett of the University of Michigan, Elmer Drew Merrill of Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University and Joseph Francis Rock.
Walker's autobiographical notes were written around 1978. The appendices to his autobiography pertain to his experiences in China from 1923 to 1926; the Old World collections
in the United States National Herbarium; Walker's field work, publications, and conferences he attended; the Walker family Christmas letters; and the editor of
For records documenting Bartlett and Walker's research on Sumatran plants, see accession T89024, from the Department of Botany, United States National Museum. In addition, record unit 7271 Rolla Kent Beattie Paper's, circa 1928-1947 include correspondence between Beattie and Walker concerning Japanese ferns and grasses.
Field notes pertaining to Walker's research in New Zealand, the Eastern United States, Japan, and the Philippines are included in the Collector's Field Books and Miscellaneous Notes of the Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History.
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
This series is comprised of incoming and outgoing correspondence concerning the research, funding, and publication of the
Close, professional relationships with Elmer Drew Merrill and Harley Harris Bartlett are also evidenced in this series. Elmer Drew Merrill correspondence pertains to Merrill's
work on the bibliographies and determinations of the plants of Polynesia and the Pacific; joint work on the
Correspondence with Joseph Francis Rock pertains to Rock's collecting expeditions, writings, and determinations made on Asian plants. General correspondence is related primarily to Walker's botanical research, publications, and professional activities.
This series primarily concerns the publication of the
This series primarily consists of annotated drafts, pink and blue sets, for the preparation of the
Research material consists of annotated, bibliographic card files compiled for
Biographical material consists of Walker's autobiographical notes and the corresponding appendices. These papers include letters and personal accounts of his experiences
in China while he was an instructor at Canton Christian College from 1923 to 1926; his reports on the Old World collections in the National Herbarium during his time as an
Assistant and Associate Curator at the United States National Museum; the Walker family Christmas letters; a few articles related to Walker's field work and the conferences
he attended; a personal account by the editor of the supplement to